Retrospective Contemplation of Child Media

I remember when I was young and watching a television show that I was very fond of. It was Duck Tales and in the episode Scrooge’s nephews were having hot chocolate; however they were only given three marshmallows in their drinks. They were used to having four. This upset them and so they embarked on a quest to solve this problem. I don’t remember how they did that and whether it involved making money for their uncle or showing him how important it was to them, but the episode ended with their uncle making them hot chocolate with four marshmallows in each cup, thus restoring the status quo.

What struck me about the episode was my reaction to it. I still recall it clearly for it is one of my earliest memories of truly analysing a concept. I remember thinking about how the episode ended and, at the wise old age of nine, wondered how many children watching the episode would suddenly start asking for marshmallows in their hot chocolate. More specifically, how many of them would insist upon four marshmallows as the “norm” for such drinks. (Though I doubt I knew the word ‘norm’ at that stage)

This turned into a myriad tangent ideas: How much would this cartoon affect people? (For I somehow believed many of them would be more easily persuaded than me) Would they get annoyed if their parents refused them or would the parents be too lenient and simply give in to their children’s demands? Would children resent parents who wouldn’t allow it? Did the writers/producers of the show share my thoughts on the matter and, if so, how did they feel about influencing people? More importantly, would they care? Did they make jokes to each other about how it would boost the economy by getting people to buy more? All these questions flooded my mind and I couldn’t help but ponder them. Even now, I am occasionally drawn back to such thoughts, and with them the old idea of how much power words can have when used at just the right moment.